Construction of jail addition underway

The Coryell County Commissioner’s Court recently received an update about the current addition being constructed at the Coryell County Sheriff’s Office.

County Commissioners Scott Weddle and Ryan Basham offered updates on the on-going construction.

“This is the first new construction that we’ve done on the jail since 1991,” Basham said. “We have a meeting every week on Wednesday to go over where we are, what’s going on with the day-to-day operations.”

Weddle reported that the masonry on the new facility had begun on the southwest side of the of the current jail facility.

“The testing agency has been on site, and they’ve tested all of the concrete pour and all of the tests have come back satisfactory and they’re also doing grout testing on all the layers of the masonry and finding acceptable levels,” Weddle said. “The plans are still being cross-checked by engineering and are 90 to 95% which is very good.”

Commissioner Basham reported that the construction of the 47-bed addition to the department is scheduled to be completed in December by Butler-Cohen Designing and Building firm.

“In reality, it might be a little longer than that,” he said.

Coryell County Judge Roger Miller commented during the meeting saying, “If we’re going to have a jail facility that is sustainable for many years to come, it needs to be addressed and I’m not going to say that this is a no-brainer, but it is a wise step.”